Wave: Epidemic (26-EX, D, Mutant Sky Shaymin TF)

Part 4.5: The Champions
Chapter 26-Ex: Anointment
Episode FOUR: Stardom Fervor
Ex. The Wish Granter



ACT γ  - Rapport

Breath was thick against my throat, thinner on my tongue, as I watched this enigma girl walk toward me, sauntering happily, having left Chevron on his hands and knees. I was unsure of what to give more attention: Serapheon or Chevron. One was shouting bad spirits away, while the other was in her happy place.

Chevron's body was something other, shedding its white coat as it became smaller, another white coat of new nature in its stead, fuzzy, cropping like bright grass across the surface of his compacting skin. I saw, underneath the growing canopy of his hood, that his nose was rolling out, puffing his cheeks slightly, the shape of his face turning canine, though no more so than the vixen's before me. Against his sprouting white fur, a black dot became more evident, taking the place of his nose. The rest of his face became hidden by the now much too large cloak. This was all true, except for his ears, which appeared larger by the second, elaborate, poking underneath the hood, before folding back under what I assumed to be his own discretion. At the peak of his head, the hood deformed more, raising, as if his hair was spiky, or perhaps some manner of head decoration found its way to his cranium. I saw his fingers fuse briefly, a sharp green contrast gloving both hands—paws now, perhaps—as opposed to the white fur on his arms, before retreating into the zealous sleeves of his needless apparel. That was all I got to see of his change. He became buried underneath his garments in a matter of sweet seconds, his shouts, shifting in pitch, serving all the justice I needed to feel reimbursed for the lives of Jack and Kieran.

He became quiet underneath the pile.

Placing my staff at my side again, I sucked in my lips, looking a little guilty, at the same time incredibly impressed with this Sera girl. She was only a couple feet before me, looking right up with her colorfully-ridged bands flowing around, two touching at her sides, the other two pointing at the work she left behind.

“Miss Cinccino? I know we have differing opinions about Gamma and stuff, but would it be okay if we were friends until we got out of this place?” she asked, her voice somehow so distinct from how it was moment before she afflicted Chevron.

I hadn't the words to give back to her. I was of a different mind when I encountered her than how I was now. I was cold and beaten by the battle of friend against friend, forced into a game of hate by Delta Meadow. At the time of my ultimatum, she represented everything and anything that kept me from my hopes and my dreams. Now, she looked very different. Now, I wanted to give redress.

“Mmhm,” I mumbled, at first ashamed to show my change of heart. I then asked myself why. I didn't come to an answer. “Yeah. I don't think I completely understand what I just watched, and I might be able to say the same for Emi and Pat there,” I gestured with a thumb, pointing to the two. “But it looked like you helped us.”

“Did it? Ooooh, I hope it was a good show. You three got front row seats. Even though you were standing. Hehe~!” she giggled, chipper as a pixie. “I know you want to blow up the stone, but at least let me get it out of that glass container-place first. Then, when we're far away from here, we can settle our own roughhousing.”

“Sounds good, if not bittersweet, but... I can't argue. Too tired to argue. I need to find a comfy bed.”

“You ARE a comfy bed.”

“Oh, point taken,” I mused, finding a smile worm across my face. I pinched a clump of fluff on my scarf and lifted it to my nose, sniffing, inhaling the evidence of battle. I needed a shower, too. Where was Young when I needed her? She gave the most amazing bubble baths. “By the way, it's Arcadia. My name, I mean. I'm Arcadia. My friends might call me Nick because I'm stupidly complicated.”

“While we're still friends, we can share our tales. I might need yours. I'm tired, too, and I need a blanket.” she cooed, walking around me and bouncing up to the convoluted mainframe situated underneath the tank, holding that stone that made me into this.

Somehow, I giggled. Somehow, I felt happy enough to let it show. I looked over to Pat and Emi, the former giving the latter a long hug. It looked like a happy ending. There were some loose ends, burnt to a crisp and never to be fastened the same way again, but... it still looked okay. It looked like we won, and we could all go back home to Autumnridge...

Glass broke behind me. Fluids splashed around me.

An alarm sounded. It was the same that accompanied the movement of the blast doors, dramatic and painful. I spun around, my tail flicking high. Sera was holding the anomaly in her soft bands, perfectly placed at the scene of her vandalism, a jagged gap in the glass, liquid spilling from it and ruining the equipment below, a few sparks buzzing away from the blue screens and knobs. Sera herself was only soaked at the feet.

“Hey! I was going to do that anyway! You could've just told me you wanted to break the thing and we could've been done with this earlier!” I said.

“Huh? Whoops. Sorry~!” she dismissed, only returning the glance for, well, a glance's moment. She was taken in by the meteorite.

I could only wonder what she could've been thinking at that time. Maybe she was speaking with Laza. I had my own experience with the rock, but it wasn't all the same as what I depicted hers to be. Gamma meant something different to her, just like it meant something different to me. It... was kind of pretty that it did that. It meant different things. Was I... in the wrong? Someone I didn't even know came all the way down there, all the way through a nightmarish science facility, just to get this space pebble. It had to mean more than death. It had to make more than ghosts. Otherwise, it wouldn't—shouldn't have made its way all the way to Earth.

“What did you do!?” someone moaned, loud enough beneath the screaming alarm.

I searched for the origin. It was of the pile. It bustled, until a small green paw reached out from underneath the neglected clothing. It had two digits, like Pat's, both as her current state and her body as Cryhex. The second arm discovered the exit. Both pulled their owner into view, at first showing his nose, then his muzzle, then his face, eyes of a different shape, but not color. They were as red as they were before he changed. He kept crawling, his hair flicking out from the pile, a punk-esque barrage of dull green spikes, placed between two huge ears, windy and wide, tipped with three soft thorns, two prongs deviating on either side of each. Barely two feet in length, the former human showed us his curse. He had what looked like a red scarf, petal-shaped, straying from his neck, and a scruff of a tail.

“Oh! Did I do that, Chevy~? Look at'chu! Whaaaawwww, he's a wittle sky shaymin! Ki-kind of. You're upright? How'd I make a mutant min? Must be all that Scion Gamma. Dunno!” Sera mulled, hopping off of the damaged computers, holding the glowing fragment high above her head.

“You... bitch. That's it,” he growled. But, honestly, he was too cute for me to care about any threats he wanted to weave through his fangs. “It's over. I'm calling it. If I can't win, no one does.”

“Poor sport!” Emi honked.

I shook my head and let the poor little monster babble his tantrum.

The alarm ceased.

“No one! YOU HEAR ME?!” he blared, slamming a paw into the floor, not even loud enough to be heard. “FLKR-HX3. Remember that. It's the last thing you'll know. It's gonna raze the earth. You're all done. I'm throwin' the order. It's comin'! It's COMING, HAHAHA! It's gonna wipe us all out before all of that Wave kills us OVER and OVER and OVER AND OVERANDOVERANDOVERANDOVER AGAIN AHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

The scent of juniper.

I wasn't... looking at him anymore...

She was behind him.

“You make too much noise.” the rebel professor declared, not before firing a shot from a yellow pistol, lined with black, a sparkling round darting into the back of Chevron's small head.

Chevron twitched violently, visible static jumping through his fur. After a moment of clicks and electrical song, he became hauntingly still, face against the floor—not only that, but planted clean into the blackened section of tile where Jack and Kieran burned together. There was a a plug and a wire in the back of his head, minuscule, nonlethal. One or two seconds later, the rest of the weapon fell upon his body. I traced upward along the legs of the wielder of this weapon, covered with indigo denims, patched up in spots. There was a white coat on her, too, but it was tied around her waist, sleeves slacking against her legs, with a black shirt made blacker by the deep blue light inside this space.

“Good night, you waste of skin. 'Least you take up less now. Hmhm.” she mused.

“Y-...Young...?” I mewed...

“Yeah. Hi. Heh, you're looking good, Nikki.”

“It's, uhm... Arcadia now.”

“Waaaaait a sec! I've seen you!” Sera declared. I saw her move past me, investigative.

“You did. I saw you and someone else in one of the labs upstairs. Pardon; way upstairs,” she amended, humorous, but without a smile on her face, as she was wont to do. She rarely smiled, but she was still funny. “When I saw you, I just couldn't help myself. I had to check and see what all the fuss was about. Whaddya know, it got me all the way into the Down.”

“Young, you're... alive...?” I queried, lame as lame got.

“What? You thought I was dead?”

“Everyone said that you were.”

“Tch, who's 'everyone'? Sam? Sam's full of shit. Yeah, I died, but I'm not dead. Keep your head on: I'm a Scionic Vampire. It's hard to put us down. But, I just learned from your sylveon friend that even I'm not safe from turning into a Pokémon. Once they figure that out, they'll probably bind me down and feed me more of the 'element', if you know what I mean. So...”

“What are you going to do?” I asked.

“I'm probably going to be on my own from here on out. I figured this was the best place to start. Nick, or Arcadia, I want to apologize for misleading you all this time. Seems I let my work get the better of me, when in retrospect, I did want that friendship we made. It filled a void.”

“Young, that... that's... thank you.” I spoke, quiet and unsure of the direction. I let my staff flicker away from solidity, burning out into a glimmer of pink. I clenched my fist where it used to grip the pole.

“You're not mad at me?” Young asked, the question loaded with false integrity.

“I wasn't ever mad at you.” I said, refusing to let her have what she wanted.

“Even though I lied to you and used you as a means to an end, then lied to you again about my own disappearance?”

“Yes. I was never mad.” I furthered.

“That's pretty impressive,” she smirked. “People can learn things from you. I'm... happy to be one of them. All the while, it's never good to trust anyone so easily. But you didn't come down here to listen to me, of all people, lecture you. What did you come down here to do anyway?”

“I... wanted to end it all.”

“Oh, I guess it's good that I found you then. I think I speak for all of us when I say I've had enough of Delta Meadow. I'm going to be researching Gamma on my own terms. There are too many suits to suck up to here. 'Do this this way and pretend you don't know this'. That's not how I play, so I'm out.” she said, solid and final, throwing an arm to the side, hand open, all of the vice leaving her grasp.

There was a moment of nothing but acceptance, round the faces, all having come into this place a different person from what or who they were now. We were processed, shaped by the imagination of a star, evacuated into reality. I looked around the room and I saw what the others became made of, something special and unique that remained with them even in their removal of a once-assured frame. Sera had the meteorite. Emi had Pat, and Pat had Emi. I had Arcadia, was Arcadia, and Arcadia had Young again.

I walked forth. Out of the corner of my vision, I saw Sera's ears perk up. I took note of the fallen Chevron. Someone's face came to me, my mind, someone familiar and close, but not present. I let it off without a thought, faced Young, and took the breath I had held inside of me since I looked into the mirror she gave to me, shattered. The same hand she threw aside, she placed on my head, before the fluffy hair behind my ears. She stroked me briefly, fingers and thumb moving inward, then outward, quick enough for it to be sweet enough to remember from before, myself desiring it as I hurried through those corridors, white and blank.

“We can leave... can't we?” I asked. I kept my head still for her to keep rubbing. She did so.

“I know a way out of here. It's an emergency exit that'll throw off every alarm in the Down. So yeah, I disabled that,” she added, patting me once. “Okay. Anyone and everyone who wants to go home, come with me, and make it fast. I don't have time to sit around.”

“Oh my Arceus, yes please~!” Sera yelped, dashing forward, coming to a near-instantaneous stop right next to me. I heard to more sets of footsteps join her.

“Us, too. This is cool—thank you so much, Young. Young, right?” Emi inquired.

“Professor Young, yes,” Pat confirmed, her knowledge from Cryhex's database spared. “I want to get away from here, too, if it's not too much trouble.”

“Nothing's too much trouble if you put it underneath yourself. Let's put this whole place beneath us, why don't we?” Young suggested. Happily in agreement, the lot of us left the subterranean structure and all of its sins behind, Chevron contained, left in a mangled sleep sprawled onto a broken floor.

Outside the building, there were sparsely lit detours around the grounds, some branching into the unknown black of the cavern, others as bright as a tunnel's light afar off. Some of these lights, a dotted line, connected into a raised pattern, lifting from the ground. The white dots were linear, some of them pulsing on and off, giving homage to peripherals. The closer we got to this tower of lights, the more prevalent a shadow of steel became, grating and wires leaning against the invisible structure. Once we were there, upon a raised slope of land with mobile generators, tractors, trucks with flood lights on top, and piles of crates, some open, tools pouring out, I saw the tower to be a narrow, square lift, old and decrepit.  

With everyone in tow, Young thrust her elbow against a yellow button on the rusted iron. Two separate bodies of grating folded apart, clinging, inefficient and weathered. Once they parted, the five of us stepped in with little room to spare. I imagined the lift to fail at pulling our weight, but I looked around once more and smiled. We weren't a very heavy load, I thought.

The old shutters closed. There were some clicks, lifting in tempo, and the tampered steel was off, ascending. I looked up as the velocity met its cap, finding a square light at the roof of the cave, an eclipse somewhere, awaiting us, awaiting me...

…

It was agony to count the seconds that passed as we went high.

The higher I went, the more I lived it all over again.

The slower the ascension got, the more I feared I would see the underworld chase me.

The more I remembered, the less I wanted to know for the future. The more I thought ahead, the more I wanted to change the past.

…

A trek across a suspended iron catwalk later, surrounded by solid earth, followed by an oily clutch releasing a large trapdoor, I met the sun.

I climbed from the pit second, aiding by the cold hand of Young. She hoisted me onto wheaty grass, dying away in its preparation for winter. Dirt flicked into my fluff, but it was okay. Cattails scraped against my skin, but that was just fine. I was on my knees now, palms on a spot of soil, meeting and breathing oxygen again. I froze, letting it fill my lungs. It was harmony. It was music. I lifted my head to the clouds, watching the sun smile, before it dipped behind the overcast, gray and old, smudges of dark gray blending into dirty black. A thunderstorm, maybe, but that was for later.

In this moment, I was alive. I was no ghost or lost soul. I felt everything as I felt it in a life before this. I bathed in wind that tickled my fur, tasted air that came from the earth and the sky, and smelled mud, pollen, and rainwater, a change of seasons on the horizon.

I found it an awesome perplexity to believe I was once beneath this. I was free. I wasn't a prisoner anymore.

Emelina and Patricia came to me, standing on either side, overlooking the valley. We were atop one of the hills encompassing our little urban town in the absolute middle of nowhere. When we looked out, we saw forest, forest, forest, a little break of street or river, and more forest. My lungs were struggling, breath too fast to catch, as I made myself choke on the tears.

“We're out?” Emi whispered, serenaded by wind.

“We're out.” Pat whirred, overloaded by stimuli.

There was a slam behind me. My shoulders jumped, as I traced the source; Young was there, her foot against the ground, the patch of soil camouflage covering up the abyss. Sera was free, meteorite chunk tied into her gentle bands, strapped onto her back. She was looking the other direction, the opposite of us, awing and oohing, before finding my friends and I.

“Whoa, oh my gosh, I can breathe again! This is soooo... sooooo... woohoooo!” Sera blurted, lifting her nose to the rainclouds and spraying her voice into the heavens.

“Keep it down. We're still on military property,” Young scolded. “If they get us here, it'll be shoot first, ask questions later, and then shoot again. But, it's nice to not have a roof over us, so, enjoy it while it lasts. If what Chevron said was really their next plan of action, then the clock's ticking into overdrive now. We may be about to see something that can go number of ways, with any number of possibilities for each of those ways. I'd hate for it to be the last thing we see.”

“Young? What are you talking about? What did Chevron say back there?” I asked, staying low, my knees soft against the ground.

“He brought up Flicker. FLKR-HX3. That's bad. On the list of bad things, that one's at the top. I know some Pokémon who might be able to help us slow this down. If they don't want to, I'll make them help us. I have my ways.”

“Well,” I began, putting earth further beneath me, my feet flat against the soil. “I'm prepared to go into this blind and help you wherever I can.”

“That's what I like to hear. We'll be helping each other, all of us. As for you, uhm... What was your name again?” Young pondered, hands on her hips, watching the blue-white bow-dressed vixen.

“I'm Sera! 'Cause I'm Serapheon~.”

“Somehow, I feel like I remember you differently. Whatever the case, you're going to have some surprises headed your way. That little pichu that died, and that raichu you were with... I have a hunch we haven't seen the last of them. I can't tell you whether or not that's good. I just felt like saying it. In spite of that, it looks like your priorities have changed. Are they supposed to be friends of yours?” Young asked.

I saw what Sera would say before she said it. No. Young wasn't talking about the 'pichu' or the 'raichu'. They were behind Sera, being a unique pair, a duo having climbed all the way here just to impress me with how... pungent their scents were, perfume and starry ozone again, like that below, but pure and afloat, one of fire, the other of ice; incidentally, the latter was like Sera.

“Pichu and raichu? They're not 'friends' of mine. They're—”

“Sis,” the icy vixen interrupted. “Sis, behind you.”

“Whassat!?” Sera jumped, in doing so spinning around, meeting the strangers—not strangers, otherwise that girl wouldn't have called her a sister. She was elegant, but bleeding a spunky aura, reckless and peppy, ready to bite at all manner of bad noise. The majority of her fur was as white as her sister's, with occasional blue spots, namely those of the natural toque she appeared to be wearing, sharp  drapes hanging a hair's width from the ground, her flat tail high.

“She was right,” said the little orange boy. His ears were as tall as he, still shorter than all of us, split like a V. His round, big blue eyes read defeat in contrast to the rest of his charmingly cute body, cream colored fur and sharp scarlet hands, short feathery wings at his hips. “That Xima lady was actually right. How did she know?”

“Couldn't tell ya! I'm just happy we got our girl.”

“NASCE!” Sera squealed, pouncing onto her relative. Well, she attempted as much. The icy girl moved away, stepping to the left and letting her companion take the hit. She barreled over him, shoving him into the dirt. “Aah—ahahaha! Victini?! You found Victini too, Nasce?!”

“Nngh! Hey!” the boy cried.

“Yeah. He's not one of us yet though, so just call 'im VC or Caden. He knows... Edge.”

Edge...?

“O-oh,” Sera said, quieter, all the jolliness sucked out of her like stupor, stupefied. She stepped off of the tall-eared boy. “So... like, how did you find me out here?!”

“A little birdie told us. Well, er, a cat. She said we should come here at this time if we wanted to meet up with you. We got a little bit lost in the hills, but your shout gave you away. We could prolly hear you from light years away.

“Great.” Young sighed.

“A cat?! I like cats!” announced the once-again bouncy Serapheon.

“Yeah, I think that's always been the problem with you, Sis,” Nasce chuckled, joining her sister and her small friend. “I see you have the Gamma rock with ya there. Maybe with that, we can do something about Edge before this all goes to heck.”

“Agreed,” Sera nodded. “I mean SHUHEESH, It's been a hecky one down at Delta Meadow. I saw some things I can't unsee. Eck!”

“Heheh. Sorry, but it's not gonna get better. Know someone named Scion?” Nasce asked. I shuddered. Had I no fur, I would've sprouted goosebumps. That was a name with power.

“Uh-huh, sure do. I wish I didn't.”

“Hm. Bad news. He's not alone.”

“Oh, yeah, I know! There was that Mars skywisp girl person and the Symbis and stuff.”

“Not Mars. This is... bad, Sera. I think there's someone hiding under our noses and pullin' on strings.”

“We got a new baddie on our paws? D'aw, darn it, I just wiped the floor with Chevy. Well, dat's okay~! We're a family! You, Laza, and I can handle whatever shoddy-naughty runs our way!”

“Right on! Hey, don't forget my lil buddy Caden.” Nasce instructed, eyes on the boy.

“Ohhh, of course, you can be part of the family, too~.” Sera cooed, lowering herself to the boy's level, threatening to touch noses with him.

“I-I'm okay, thanks,” he shied away, turning his head, rejecting the affection. “I just want to save Drew.”

In their brief pause, I wanted to interject and ask a question. With my tongue stiff from the cool of the fresh wind, I staggered, and the thought slipped away. Who was it... other than Scion? Who was Edge? There was something else happening somewhere else in the Wave. I was missing the big picture; however, in knowing that, I felt that I wasn't alone to begin with. There were others suffering outside of my sight.

“Oh yeah, hi there,” Nasce said, this time to us. “There's some Gamma on you guys. Mostly you,” she looked at me. “Like that meowstic.”

“She's so pretty. Does she know the meowstic?” Caden asked. He was too young for me to blush, but I was still flattered enough to let out a smile underneath confusion.

“Don't think so, but I could be wrong. I've never seen another Pokémon lady until now. Listen, nice meeting you, but we have to go. There's someone we need to meet soon.”

“Is it that puppet master person?!” Sera gasped.

“N-no, Sis, not yet. That's the last boss,” Nasce laughed, tapping her foreleg against her sister's. “Hey, we're gonna go see Nirva. You got that rock for a reason, y'know. We need all the power we can get to make another of us Champions, yeah? So let's hurry already!”

“Outro~! Hehe, I have no idea where we're going! I'll just follow you two. Oh, hey hey,” Sera pattered, her focus bouncing across the four of us, looking for someone to pitch her whimsy at. She stopped on me. “Arcadia, it was nice meeting you! I really hope we can still be friends. But regardless, keep yours safe.”

I nodded, speechless.

“Right; there's a place called the Grove, right in your woods. It's safe, so you should defs go and check it out.” Nasce suggested.

“The Grove? In the woodland?” I asked. Nasce nodded.

“And... keep Edge safe, too,” Caden mumbled, the wind bringing his voice to my ears. “So I can deal with him myself.”

…

They were gone, down a hillside, underneath the premonition of clouds, a storm.

Emelina and Patricia and I; we... We picked up where we left off.

“Bye-bye, Sera, manifestation of Element Gamma Laza.” Patricia computed, waving one arm.

“She was super cute. What do you think, Doctor Young?” Emelina queried, sitting.

“I think we have our work cut out for us,” Young said. “I hope you three are ready for things to heat up.”

“We will be. We gotta get the group back together. After that, we can do anything. It's been shown time and time and time again,” I started, walking ahead of the group, facing the vastness of the Autumnridge woodland, memories flooding like rainstorm prophecy, filling the gaps and the promises and the stories we wrote, the worlds we created and the lives we governed by pen, by pencil, animation and color, a team, a legacy unbroken.

I didn't need to destroy Gamma. I needed to accept it, harness it, and protect everything to me which mattered, a paradox, as it included itself; and, once, I saw that as a suicide pact. Who was I back then? I was still Nikki. Now, I was Arcadia. Now, I was in the Wright.

“Girls,” I breathed, turning to them, a winged smile curling the corners of my lips up. “Our Circle needs us. Time to go set things right.”

…

…

…

On the hillside.

…

I was only here because Sera brought the meteorite out of the facility.

No one noticed me though. I think I'm beginning to understand.

The lady who called me 'Angel' -- she's got a Symbi, but surely she should be able to see me!

Unless it was just a Timescape thing... Huh...

That was alright. She was busy. She and everyone else. This was a good moment for 'em.

Good luck, guys. That's right. Save that Circle. Our Circle. I'll be close behind.

















































































Earlier



It was blue, now, where I was. The mean-looking lady was still with me, but she wasn't actually all that mean anymore.

My arms tucked under hers, I put my head against her bosom and sighed myself into half-sleep for the fiftieth-or-sixtieth time. There was this feeling of pushing against all sides of my head. It wasn't physical. It was like being afraid that you couldn't do something you wanted to do ever again. It reminded me of claustrophobia.

I think I was afraid that I was never going to sleep again.

Umm...

This is no different than my glass bubble... I think I want my bubble back, still.

I like this lady, and I know she wants me to leave this weird building, but I don't know where to go.

Maybe Willow knows.

…

There was no more motion. I opened my eyes all the way and saw pale skin. I looked up, looking for an answer to an unspoken question.

“This is where we stop,” that lady said. I didn't know her name still. I felt rude. “It's dangerous for you two up ahead. I want you to stay here and watch what I do. From here, you're going to be following me from a distance. I don't want to disrupt the flow of things, and if anyone can do it, it's... you two.”

Why?

I didn't ask it, but why? Why were we supposed to do that? It didn't sound like it made much sense, but... I was tired, so okay. We could do that.

“And if you can't keep up, just... keep your eyes high. Exit's above us. Look for light.” said the woman.

There was a little bit of air under me, then above me, then I was on the ground again. The lady took her hands from my sides and left me to wobble tiredly. I put my arms out either side of me to try and get some balance back. I looked down at the blue tiles, my yellow ribbons curled around my feet. My mouth felt like a squiggle, which felt like who I was now; a scribble, and I was sooo nauseous.

Willow came down to me, sheepish. She put her fiery tail around my waist and kept me from tipping over. It wasn't hot anymore. This time, it was just warm-normal. I was still afraid it might burn me. Maybe I was too sleepy to notice it burning me, but I certainly wasn't gonna fall over no more.

I think I heard alarms, but they were fuzzy. They were hyper loud, so I knew that I heard something. I wasn't sure what they were though. Maybe alarms. Maybe something else. I put my hands over the sides of my face to try and stop the noise, but I couldn't find my ears. I stayed behind a doorway that led out to a bigger room, somewhere central, where all of the things were happening. We were out of plain sight, but we couldn't see anything around that doorway either.

Maybe it was good that I didn't cover my ears, because I heard voices that spoke louder to me in their flavor than their words...

“No one! YOU HEAR ME?!” some little man shouted, followed by an aggressive thud. I got still. “FLKR-HX3. Remember that. It's the last thing you'll know. It's gonna raze the earth. You're all done. I'm throwin' the order. It's comin'! It's COMING, HAHAHA! It's gonna wipe us all out before all of that Wave kills us OVER and OVER and OVER AND OVERANDOVERANDOVERANDOVER AGAIN AHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“You make too much noise,” the mean-looking-but-not-mean-acting lady said. I was sure it was her. There came a grunt of resistance, then another thud. “Good night, you waste of skin. 'Least you take up less now. Hmhm.” she mused.

And then came...

“Y-...Young...?” another woman said, mixed into serenity.

“Yeah. Hi. Heh, you're looking good, Nikki.” said the lady—she said it back to the other lady, which meant that she must have been Young.

Her name was Young, and so she wasn't nameless anymore.

Willow's grip around me tightened during their conversation. It tightened when one of the younger girls spoke. I tried to lean around the door hinge to peek, even if just a teensy bit. I still couldn't see much useful enough to put any tags on the voices that talked back and forth. Young was most of those voices, but still, the way Willow gripped me like she was nervous made me feel like I should have known the young girl around that corner. If only I could see. If only I could go out there. Young said we couldn't go. We'd be a disturbance.

Young made offers of escape. She was popular with them. She really didn't like this place.

She said that she would lead them out of the Meadow. I wanted to come, too. She said that I could, but I had to stay back and watch from afar. This was what she told Willow and me.

But whyyyyyuh why why?! Why did she say it like that?! We weren't so bad!

I wanted friends now. I was tired of being all alone in my bubble. I wasn't there anymore, I know, but... I wanted to make a difference!

Willow sighed next to wherever my right ear was. Her tail let up on my waist.

“She can't let us come out there with her? She's planning something, I bet. Ggh, I knew it. I hate these scientists. I'd burn out before they speak honest words.” Willow ranted, growling cutely.

“N'awww, you're so mean.”

Huh?! I spun around, flicking up the ribbons, tags on my star head thrown up in the breeze. My eyes met something they should've already seen, because the thing was huge. Something that huge should have made louder sounds coming up behind us, but it was here like magic and we didn't even notice a budge or a creak in the floor. It sounded like the steps it made should have been all splashy and gross. We weren't paying attention to splashy and gross. We were listening to other colors.

This color was purple. Bright purple, with spots of green, even more where his eyes were, looking down on us with a smile wider than his belly... mmmmaybe not that wide, but still wide and creepy.

“What're you little rascals up to? Did somebody let you out of your cages? I bet'chu it was Young. Was it Young? It was Young, huh?” he asked, leaning in closer and closer, before tilting his head one full right angle, eyes still focused on me.

“Eeeeh, we're not... we're with Y-...” Willow sputtered.

“Young! Y'seeeee~? It's always Young,” the gooey Pokémon confirmed, nodding proudly, overzealous. “Mmhm! I am a sad goodra, guys. My meal got overcooked and now I'm going to go hungry. Geeeez, I don't know what I'm supposed to do!”

“Why're you... telling us this?” inquired Willow.

“Why else? I want'chu 'monnies to help feed me! With your bodies! They don't look like they're doing anything else useful.”

“Uh-” I gulped, stepping back so quickly I caught air out of fright, and kept lifting from there! I was a Jirachi—right! I could fly, but nothing ever prompted me to until now! “Don't do that! I'm not food, and I crazy doubt Willow's food!”

I was in broad sight of the big, open room. I caught a glimpse of it, but the glimpse lasted as long as my surprise lasted... a long time... in response to the goodra. Was still so sleepy, but more awake now! I only saw a few huge cables and capsules like my own before I had to look back at the hungry person to make sure he wasn't coming any closer.

“Mmwwwweeeelllll...” the goodra groaned, rolling his eyes. “I guess I dooooo need someone to help me clean up some body paaaarts, and you're more useful to me NOT being pudge, so...”

“Pu-uhm... Pudge? 'Scuse me?” Willow asked. I didn't want to ask.

“Wait, hang on hold on hold it! I gotta go get Chevy! Stay right there, or I'll be forced to make a stew out of you and share it with my boss, okaaaaaay thanks bye.” he said, stampeding over his words and very nearly me, bouncing forward.

I made a brisk movement to the side and let him off on his merry path. He went through the doorway. I followed, but just a tiny bit, looking through to the room with Willow by my side. I caught her eye and she caught mine. We gave each other a puzzled stare, then waited for the after-show between something buried in clothes and something buried in slime.

And Young wasn't there anymore.

“BWAAAAOH MY GAWSH,” the goodra clamored. I saw him out there reaching down and picking something up off of the floor, right near that pile of clothing.

A white coat and a black vest, some heavy-looking boots, and... a few other accessories. That was a scene I'd seen, but I didn't know if I had the memory anymore. But, it didn't have to to with me today. It had to do with the white, fuzzy thingy the goodra recovered. He pulled it away from the heap of fabric and rubber and lifted it high into the once-tense air. The creature he had was a Pokémon, but something about it wasn't all there—or, hold on...

...I think that too MUCH of it was there, because it looked like a little human, just shaped like a Pokémon would be shaped. Something about the mutated Pokémon reminded me of... me, in its potential and its hue; that was mostly white, with green spiky hair, arms and legs, and a red scarf shaped like a couple of big flower petals. His eyes were opening up. It looked like they were supposed to be green, but red was a fitting color for them also.

His cute arms dangled when he was picked up. Was he sleepy like me? I loved his ears. They were so long, with cool, windy designs to them, with two tips curling away from each other, then three at the very end, all sharp and stuff!

But I was getting bad vibes from him...

My heart told me something my eyes didn't. The heartbeat wanted to call this Pokémon a criminal. I was anxious just looking at him for too long, but when the goodra put the tip of one of his ears in his mouth, everything was better for a little bit. I heard the gooey Pokémon slurp and suckle as he held the other close, ecstatic, like he was holding a comfy plush toy.

These were bad guys? But they were really cute bad guys!

The spiky-haired 'mon didn't look amused. Eyes half-open and bored with his situation, he just grunted all gruff-like. I knew he saw me, because why else would he have been looking right at Willow and I? There was no other reason for him to turn his head to our direction, soooo we just went out of the room connected to that one and joined the two weirdos in their session of... erm... kinks.

“Winston, you gotta not do that,” the aggravated Pokémon expressed, monotone and slow, crossing his arms. “Huugghhhffffffrig me, I don't believe this!”

“What? Chevron? OH!” said Winston, the goodra, hurried and hasty to let the other Pokémon down. He practically threw him to the ground! Luckily, he landed upright like he knew what he was doing with those legs.

“Agh, don't do—never mind,” Chevron groaned. “Being hurled around is better than being eaten. Give or take. You're way dumber than you look, Winston. How'd you not know it was me? My crap is right there.”

He pointed to the clothes, but Winston didn't look.

“Huh?! No! Wait, I thought... You're supposed to be safe from the...”

“It was that girl. Used to be the Hummings boy. Now she's running around talkin' about Laza or some... hey, speaking of which, who let them in?”

He gestured to us and left Winston to answer. I rubbed the back of my head and-

Wait. Hummings...?

I've never heard that name before!

“I don't even know who they are! I just found them walking around in the back. Young let them free!” Winston recalled.

“That sleazeball. Flicker will blow her to bits.” he growled.

“Can we get those bits back?” Winston asked.

“Shut up, Winston,” Chevron puffed, putting his green paws up to his face and rubbing down. “This got dirty. Oh, for fu—look at me!” he called out, arms off to the side, posing outward for everyone to see.

“You look fine...” I ventured in... I didn't think much before saying it. “Really, you do.”

Chevron and Winston both just watched me. The former did so like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

“Uh. Heheheh,” he chuckled, eerie, paws on his hips, head shaking. “Yyyyouuu...” he pointed at me. “Woo, you. Oh God, you—yeah heheheheh, tha's a... 's a good one, you know, you really got me, God, I... I like what you did there. Shit.”

A surge of scorn and terror went through me like vapor. We were quiet, Willow and I...

“Seriously,” Chevron prompted us. “You... you gonna draw a blank over there? Y-... you're serious, right? No comments? Floor's open for you. Say something... no? You got nothing to say to me?”

“Uuuhm...” Willow remarked, looking at me, then at Chevron. “You're creepy? And adorable at that? How about this: you're creepily adorable, and Winston is adorably creepy. Or... or would that go the other way around? Jirachi, what do you think?”

Uh-oh.

“Ooh, I-” I gulped again. “I think Winston is scarily creepy-cute, but Chevron's cutely scary.”

“Hey, hold on! I want a say in this! Okay,” Winston said. “I'm SQUISHILY cute, and Chevron is edibly cute. Cutely edible? Oh! Incr-EDIBLY cute! Chevy, wh-”

“Shut. Up. Winston,” Chevron growled, paws slapping his face again. “Why are you even here?! Shouldn't you be with Knell's last customers?”

“They're too dead.”

“No shiiiiiooooh Christ on a friggin' chariot, I have... the headache of the century. Chubs, we're setting course for the front-lines, okay? I'm putting Flicker into action and we're gonna get our nuts back together. So, I and everyone else need you to go back and do your job. Go contact Sam and let her know I want to get Flicker goin'. Knell's gone off to go do his own thing. I think he's rendezvousing with Silver Lotos right now. Gah, shit me, Mari's gonna have a flip-out.”

“Eesh, hold on! Flicker already?! How do we-” Winston was interrupted.

“Weee don't... We don't do a thing. Tell ya what: we sit back, watch the fireworks, lift a glass 'o champagne, and... fi-figure... out how the... hell we're going to turn back into humans. So go on. Do that; I'll help our new blood out.”

“On it! See ya around, my munchies!” Winston waved, a blob of lavender thrown from his arm. He fled from the conversation. He looked eager to leave. He looked eager to do a lot of things. Maybe it had something to do with 'Sam'. That's what my sleepy intuition had to say.

Now it was just us three...

Part of me wanted Winston back already, and Chevron hadn't even spoken a word. He was just pacing around like the lady outside of my glass bubble did all the time.

“You two,” he exhaled, the back of a paw against his chin, holding it up with his other arm. “Got nothin'. No purpose. No reason for being here... Might as well just off ya now. Nooo, no no no, I'm not that mean. I want good outta ya. I don't want to see you hurt, I... honestly,” he chuckled. “Seen enough of that already. You guys don't remember a thing, do you?”

“How do you know that? You don't know what we're thinking. I'm... not going to lie. I don't remember anything, yeah, but how...?” Willow fretted.

“You can't lie about genuine memory loss. That's weird,” he shrugged. “And you were Young's projects, eh? Yeah, she's uh... don't listen to her, girls. She's 'loopy'. And look, she left you both here with nothing to do. We're all a tad shady—I'm not going to hide that from you, but she's... the worst.”

I... guess he had a point. She just left us here. I still wanted her back, because she was so gentle. It smelled so nice around her. Willow liked her, too. It was comfy.

“Where did Young go? She said she was going to help us escape!” Willow outed.

“Oh really? To where?” he asked.

“She-uhm... didn't say.”

“Aha, yeah. She doesn't say a lot of things. Sorry, gals. You're still stuck with us. But don't put frowny faces on. I'm not the probin' type, so no needles or gas chambers for you. What I want from you is to help me out.”

“Whyyy would we ever do that?” asked Willow.

The snappy Pokémon took a breath deeper than the sleep I wanted to fall into.

“So, get this,” he segued. “We've made a lot of people forget who they are by slipping a fancy gas into their bodies. The gas is called Gamma. The Gamma likes to hang out around the brain and make a scene. Most of the time, it ends up putting a cover over some memories. Not everyone likes admitting their memories are dodgy, so don't pretend like yours aren't. I know what's going on up there.”

“Where are you going with this? You already know we don't remember anything... I personally don't mind admitting that. If you want to help us get our memory back, be our guest. I speak for myself—sorry, Jirachi—when I say I want to remember the things that got me to this point.” Willow explained. I didn't disagree, but I didn't let her know that.

I did want to know these things, too...

Who was I?

“Okay, fair enough,” Chevron smiled. “You're a lot like who we just had go through the whole facility and cause us all that grief. It's funny how this is playin' out. Anyway, we're going to give you some leads on prime suspects—it's a little underwhelming to call them that by now—who we have giving us problems. I want you two to find and bring back... mmmm two of them. There are five, but two is just fine, and Flicker'll handle whoever else you don't get. Knell can clean up, too. We got tons of people out there and they'll be more than happy to help you. We have some documents and recordings of them, so we'll show you those while you're resting up in the back.”

“You're going too fast. Plus, you're giving us this like we've said yes to it,” Willow argued, flying in front of me, almost protective. “How're you so sure we'll agree to this malarkey? What do we get from it?”

“Your memories back.”

Oh I wanted that...

“Oh,” Willow bit her lip. “That's... a big payoff. Hooow do you do that? Is it like a shot? Do you vaccinate us with memories?”

“Heh, no, but there's an idea. Maybe that'll be our next project. We do things the old fashioned way, girls. We sit down and we talk about things.”

“Okay, good, because it sounded like you knew who we were just a little while ago. Is it just me, Jirachi?”

Wha...?

“Oh! Huh? N-no, not at all, I thought so, too.” I agreed. I was so tired... Speaking took a lot of effort when you felt like you hadn't slept in ten days.

But... yeah, she had a serious point. He was yelling earlier—uh, Chevron. And he sounded like he was mad at us for some reason. I wasn't about to guess what the reason was, but it felt a little like when... your teacher, or... n-no, it was a foreign feeling. It was brand new, and I didn't even have a memory to scrape it off from, so I couldn't say whether or not I was making the feeling up now or... I-I don't know. I didn't have the feelings of past experiences as clearly as I'd imagined, but I was still familiar with how to think in certain situations. I think that was ingrained in me. Maybe it had something to do with the Gamma stuff.

“I do know you. I know half the people we get. I could tell you guys who you are right now. I've done my reading.” he smirked. My heart went back into the dark.

“Then... you should just tell us now and not make us do your chores.” Willow advised.

“Can't. If I tell you, your brains will erupt. Inside and out. No joke, too! Your minds will reject your former selves. I've seen it happen. One hundred percent sure of it.”

“Our brains will...” I gasped, placing both hands on my head and squeezing until it hurt.

“That's dumb. I don't buy it.” Willow scoffed.

“Ohhh, yeah, you're right, I should just... tell you. When your brains do collapse, it's not like it'll matter. I mean, you don't have any purpose anyway, and no one would care if you just vanished.”

Sad, shocked breaths flew from our lips. How could he...?

“...is what I would say if I was a horrible person,” he commented, shaking off the fake statement and approaching us with a more welcoming look on his, once again, cute face. “I care about you two. I can tell you for sure I care a lot more than Young ever did. And, if I care about you, Delta Meadow cares about you. Now I think on it, losing you girlies would be a hard pill to swallow. We want to give our subjects—our patients, excuse me, the best hospitality possible. We got plenty of psychological treatment for this kind of amnesia. It comes in stages—y-you can't just blurt it all out in one session. You have to accept it day-by-day. That's what we would do with you if your cases weren't so... spectacular. One of the people you need to look for happens to be very, very, very, very... close... to Laza. This should be one out of two of your targets. You bring her back to us, and she'll help us work our sweet stuff a lot better than any psychiatrist here ever could.”

Chevron walked in between us and put his arms high, out to either side, wrapping them around our shoulders. He looked at Willow, then at me. Willow, insulted, looked away and flew from underneath his arm, watching him from afar with disgust.

“You're a creeper. Why are you so interested in helping us when you had a psychotic breakdown a moment ago? You can't fool me. I heard you laughing. That was you.” queried Willow.

“Yeah. So? I went crazy. Uh, oops, I'm sorry? What else do you want to hear from me?” Chevron laughed, his arm still around me. I scanned it, looking through the fur, watching as he flicked his wrist with his words. “It wasn't a good situation. I can talk more about it to you. Really, the reason I want to help you guys is because... I knew you. I knew you, for Chrissakes! So... this is personal for me, too. You're not alone, there. Ya never are.”

“Then we'll do it.” I nodded, firm and proud.

“W-wait, Jirachi...” Willow sulked, then closed her eyes and sighed.

“Oh-hoooh, hey, a team player,” Chevron exclaimed, taking his arm from around me and clapping his quiet paws together. “I like that! I think I like you better now than you were bef—naaaah, I'm just yanking your tags, kiddo. See, the beauty of this is that you get to learn some life lessons in the process. What's that saying, uh: Two in the bush is worth more than birds... uh... Two in... the birds—fuc—ah, yeah, we'll get you both familiar in the back. Hey hey, just checkin', erm... you want to do this, right? Both of you? I need a solid answer now.”

“Yes.” I stated, sure of it. I was so sure of it that I didn't want to stop making my angry-looking face.

I wanted to get my memory back, and I had to look for a friend of Laza's? Easy!

Funny. I knew Laza. How come I didn't know anyone else?

“I... I don't like where this is going, but I think I gotta do it. I don't want Jirachi to be alone. She's just a little girl.” Willow pouted.

“Like you?” Chevron questioned, hiding beneath his dual breath, sorta in a nasty mocking way that I don't think Willow picked up.

“Mm... Let's just hurry along with this 'n get it out of the way.” she brooded, still facing away. I joined her and found what she was looking at.

Broken glass, I saw. It was everywhere. It was in a spot where one of my bubbles should have been. It looked like it was once important. It looked like I could have related to it. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe it was something someone found and stole because they didn't like where it was, since it was all the way over here and no one was going to find it here... You had to look so hard for it, and you didn't even know what it was you were looking for... You only knew what it was when you found it.

...mm, yeah...

I wanted to find it.

I wanted to find what it was I was looking for. A friend to a memory. A bridge. I had time for that now, even though I was mega tired and had Willow to consider in all of this craziness, too. We had to help each other find our bridges to our memories. That person with Laza was the first step. If we were lucky, maybe she was one of the friends we needed to close the gap.

But... I really needed a nap, so...

“Mister Chevron?” I yawned.

“Aw, my heart,” he laughed, lips closed, both paws over his chest. “What is it?”

“Is there a bed I can...” I yawned again...

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're a-hurtin' for a sleep. Who'm I to keep a lass from some shuteye? C'mon, I got a good place for you.” he guided, waving me over. I didn't even realize I had stopped floating. I was so content with my decision that I'd forgotten about gravity. Oh, that's right: he did sling his arm around me. I was already on the floor by then...

Chevron wanted me to help him. Us, not just me. But, I sorta took it as a wish of his. So, he wanted me to grant him a wish.

I had two wishes to go through...

I followed Chevron, and Willow followed me. I was in the middle, just like...

Just like always!

…

When I dreamed...

I dreamed of song...

Of a hum.

A melody.

I made it mine.